THE England top job – ruining managerial careers since 1999.

Over the past 17 years, six men have tried to coax the best out of a nation still dining out on a World Cup win of five decades ago.

Glenn Hoddle took the Three Lions to the last 16 of the World Cup but was sacked for non-football reasons. Kevin Keegan failed to go beyond the group stage of Euro 2000. Sven-Goran Eriksson steered ‘The Golden Generation’ to three successive quarter-finals. Steve McClaren was the Wally with the Brolly. Fabio Capello was a maestro in qualifying but awful in South Africa. Roy Hodgson was just... Roy Hodgson.

None of these managers left the hot seat with their reputations enhanced. So perhaps for that reason it is best that Eddie Howe, at least for now, will not be going down that route.

Whether or not he should have been approached by the Football Association, though, is a different issue. For what he has achieved in the game, particularly at a young age, Howe certainly deserved at least a chat.

When Hodgson quit and English football fans chewed over the list of potential successors, the overwhelming reaction was indifference. There was not a single name to greatly inspire. Apart from one.

The perceived wisdom was that it was too early for Howe, that his lack of Premier League experience would count against him. The promotions achieved in the Football League were, effectively, void.

The problem with perceived wisdom, though, is it tends to follow the trend of what has gone before and that is exactly what England don’t need.

What is required is fresh ideas, vigour and intelligence – qualities which Howe possesses in abundance, qualities which Cherries fans have been fortunate enough to see for an extended period of time.

It would have been a fascinating experiment. But for now at least, it is not to be.

Sam Allardyce, it seems, has got the nod and in some respects it is a tough decision to argue with. He has done a good job at most of the clubs he has been at. He is respected. He is thick-skinned enough to take criticism and abrasive enough not to suffer any nonsense. He is, against reputation, a forward-thinking manager.

All of this is good news for Howe because the England role is a job like no other. The line between success and failure is ludicrously thin. It would be a horrible tightrope to walk.

An example. England’s most successful tournament of recent times, Euro 96, is venerated to an alarming degree. And that was a loss in a semi-final.

Had Alan Shearer and co lost to an underachieving Spain side on penalties in the quarter-finals, as they could so easily have done, the critics would have been straight on Terry Venables’s back. As it is, he is now enjoying his retirement in Alicante with his reputation intact.

So the role itself is a knife edge kind of role. And as much as England could do with Howe, Howe could most certainly do without England.

He is at a stage of his career where his reputation is rising, he has the backing of an owner, a football club and a town. There is little logic in leaving behind a club where he has not put a foot wrong to be thrust into the impossible job.